


Wish 15

by OKCryptidd



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, What-If, obligatory bummer warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22821427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OKCryptidd/pseuds/OKCryptidd
Summary: You and I are not done. We're inseparable now.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 30





	Wish 15

You’re alone when you find the room. The raid commander tells you to split up and spread out, and it’s just your luck that you find it first, jumping and climbing and crouching until you find the room. You stare at the massive panel of buttons, five across and four down. Something holds you back from calling it in. 

Experimentally, you step forward and press one. The button lights up with a symbol. You’ve seen it somewhere before. 

_You’re almost there. Keep climbing._

You’re in the decrepit hideout in the Cosmodrome. On the dusty table littered with curry-red coupons is your prize: arc conductors, civilized weapons tech from a more civilized age. Just his taste. 

You glance up. There’s a framed picture of Colonel. You take it off the wall. 

You don’t know why, but you turn it over. 

_I wonder how much of his secrecy was for safety, and how much was for fun?_

On your orders, your Ghost pulls up the scan. Distantly, your raid team chatters on comms. They have eyes on Kalli, the tech-witch. Taken, just as you’d all known and feared. Your commander lays out the plan of attack. 

You only have a couple of minutes before they notice you’re gone. 

_Press the red button._

_They’re ALL red!_

_Then press ALL of them!_

When you’re done, you step on the plate in the middle of the room. Everything goes white. 

_Guardian? Guardian…?_

Your raid leader is calling your name. The team has no idea where you’ve gotten off to. You blink the light out of your eyes. Somehow, you’re back where your team transmatted down in the first place. 

“Did it work? This thing on? Hellooo…” The voice in your ear makes you jump. Again when it whoops with joy. “IT WORKED!” 

His laugh rings clear like bells in your head. It’s a laugh you knew you’d never hear again. He doesn’t sound like he did when you found him—with that gaping hole in his chest. It’s like he could be standing right next to you, talking right in your ear. Your radar’s empty. 

“Oh. Okay. You don’t really get it yet, do ya? I’m back, baby! Cayde-6 tags along for one last adventure with his favorite Guardian!” 

You’ve stopped breathing.

“Just, uh. Don’t tell the Vanguard, huh? Raid regulations only permit six-man fireteams, so…” 

Your Ghost asks you if everything is alright. You don’t answer him. 

He chuckles. “Speechless. Typical. Never change, Guardian.” 

You know it’s really him because he can’t stand even a second of silence between you. 

“So let me get this straight: you could have wished for anything in the world, and you wished for _me_?” 

You could scream. Who _wouldn’t_ have wished for him? 

“I mean, hey, I’m flattered. Just. Y’know. Last time we went to prison, it didn’t turn out so great for one of us, know what I mean?”

You have to stop for a moment. Your Ghost notices. Cayde notices too. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! Don’t get all sappy on me now, kid. You’ve got a job to do. Keep moving, alright?”

You can’t. 

“I’m serious, Guardian. Fireteam’s waiting. Those crazy tech-witches are counting on ya.” 

Something’s wrong. 

“I came back to see _you_ , Guardian. Be with you. Watch you work! Catch some of the Light coming off you. And now you can’t take even one more step forward?” 

You just can’t. 

“You have me for one last adventure. Isn’t that what you want? Or is it something else? Guns? Glory? Something simpler than that, maybe—just a good story?” 

He sighs, exasperated. “I mean—this is _it_ , partner. This is all I got left.” 

When Cayde speaks again, his voice is gentle. 

“Look. Today’s not gonna end like it did in the Prison of Elders, okay?”

You nod. 

“We’re finishing this. Together.” 

You take one step forward, then another. 

“Everything’s gotta end, Guardian. This place, for instance. Seems like paradise, right?” 

Each step you take is easier than the last. 

“But hey, even paradise is a prison…”

You’ve already lost him once. Maybe it won’t be as hard the second time. 

“...If you can never leave.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I tagged along with a friend completing the Risk/Reward mission recently. Watching his reaction real-time kind of inspired this story. 
> 
> I thought, what if we had a Cayde-guided run of Last Wish? What if that's Wish 15?
> 
> Originally wanted to write the entire raid run, but it bummed me out too much.


End file.
